Miracles not included

Tariq Anwar's repeated assertions that Sonia Gandhi can deliver results if she leads from the front shows that the collective Congress mind...

Tariq Anwar8217;s repeated assertions that Sonia Gandhi can deliver results if she leads from the front shows that the collective Congress mind has suffered terminal calcification. He has said this is possible because quot;India is a very emotional nationquot;. In other words, he has stopped short of calling the electorate a mass of idiots 8212; only just. Fortunately, the voter is a little smarter than the more visible faces of the Congress. Given the Mamata debacle, the electorate is quite aware that Sonia is not about to deliver anything of substance. It was told that Madam had stayed up far beyond bedtime 8212; a daring breach of protocol 8212; to meet Mamata Banerjee. It was assured that Madam had offered a solution of such compelling merit that Mamata could not refuse. And then, the very next day, it learned of Mamata8217;s expulsion from the party for arrant obduracy. The very first time that Madam succumbs to popular demand and actually intervenes in party affairs, her diktat is flouted inside of twenty-four hours.

Sonia Gandhi is probably smart enough not to repeat the mistake. Until the Mamata incident, she had maintained her brand equity by staying well clear of the marketplace. She encouraged ritual genuflections at 10, Janpath, but her impassivity in the face of adoration was also part of the ritual, investing it with an importance it did not intrinsically possess. She understood that she was in the business of making magic, that she had illusions on offer, not miracles. The trouble is that her votaries are now desperate enough to believe in miracles. The Sonia factor is what hitech industry calls quot;vapourwarequot; 8212; highly imaginative advertising claims on the packaging that do not translate into actual performance. If she actually takes the field to lead the Congress out of tribulation there will be no miracle, just a very tacky conjurer8217;s trick 8212; and all the props will be showing. The mystery will be gone and partymen will be faced with the messy job of picking up the pieces of the Sonia factor.

The Congress should realise that if it restricts itself to its elected president and the leader of the first family, it may as well end its quest for leadership and bow out of the coming fray. At present, all that the party can do is to ditch Sitaram Kesri in favour of Sonia. In other words, discredit Kesri with a rash of desertions, then stand by and watch Sonia discredit herself. The party needs to look wider afield, as it had done after Rajiv8217;s death. It has to identify another man with promising leadership qualities, though he may not cast a very long shadow just yet. Narasimha Rao8217;s tenure may have ended in ignominy, but there is no denying the fact that it was also a turning point for India. Throughout the current crisis of leadership, all that the Congress has managed to offer by way of a solution is propitiatory rituals, held regularly at the gates of 10, Janpath. Now that the deity has confounded itself with its very first boon, it is time for the party to stop deluding itself and get down to the job of acquiring a leader for the polls.